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England - Premier League

Ronaldo and Nani net

Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani were both on the scoresheet for Manchester United as the Red Devils hammered West Bromwich Albion 4-0 at Old Trafford. Ronaldo started the match and Nani came on midway through the second half, with Wayne Rooney setting up both goals for the Portuguese duo after the England forward had opened the scoring on 55 minutes. West Brom were without influential midfielder Filipe Teixeira, while Pedro Pele was left out of Tony Mowbray’s match squad.

Chelsea are still the team to catch, and Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men sent out a message to their Premiership rivals with a 5-0 win at Middlesbrough. Jose Bosingwa played at right-back, and Paulo Ferreira and Deco both came off the bench for the Blues in the second half. Elsewhere, Luis Boa Morte was not called from the bench during West Ham United’s 1-0 defeat at Hull City, while Nuno Valente was left on the sidelines as Everton lost 3-1 at Arsenal.

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Germany - Bundesliga

Petit on the up

Hugo Almeida played the final twenty-five minutes of Werder Bremen’s 3-3 home draw with Borussia Dortmund. Armando Petit played the full match in midfield as Cologne moved up to 9th place in the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win over Energie Cottbus, while Daniel Fernandes kept goal for Bochum in their 2-2 home draw with Gladbach. Wolfsburg beat Arminia Bielefeld 4-1 without the suspended Ricardo Costa. Sergio Pinto’s Hannover were the latest victims of this season’s surprise package Hoffenheim, with the Portuguese left on the bench as his side lost 5-2 at home.

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Italy - Serie A

Superb Inter batter Roma

Jose Mourinho’s Inter opened up a two-point lead at the top of Serie A with a resounding 4-0 win at Roma in the Italian capital on Sunday evening. Ricardo Quaresma started on the wing for the Nerazurri, who scored through Zlatan Ibrahimovic (2), Dejan Stankovic and Victor Obinna.

Juventus left Tiago Mendes out of their squad as they lost 2-1 at Napoli, leaving them in 12th place. Manuel da Costa was an unused substitute in Fiorentina in their 3-0 home win over Reggina. Goncalo Brandao (Siena), Vitorino Antunes (Lecce) and Costinha (Atalanta) were all not involved for their clubs this weekend.

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Spain - La Liga

Simao strikes but Pepe’s Real snatch victory

Simao Sabrosa was almost the hero for Atletico Madrid, after coming off the bench to score a late equaliser against city rivals Real Madrid, only for the champions to respond with a winner with almost the last kick of the match. The Portuguese, who was not deemed fit enough to start, came on to join Maniche in the Atletico midfield during the second half, and his free-kick in the final minute looked to have earned a point. However, a 97th minute penalty converted by Gonzalo Higuain gave Real and Portuguese defender Pepe the three points at the Vicente Calderon.

Valencia are still top of La Liga following a convincing 4-0 win over Numancia at the Mestalla, with both Miguel and Manuel Fernandes playing the full ninety minutes for Los Ches. Duda scored the winner for Malaga as they beat Getafe 2-1 at home. Helder Rosario, Duda and Eliseu all started for Malaga, and former Sevilla winger Duda scored what proved the crucial goal eight minutes before the break.

Real Betis lifted themselves away from the relegation zone with a 3-0 home victory over Mallorca, with Nelson starting at right-back for the hosts and Jose Nunes part of the visiting defence. Defenders Ze Antonio (Racing Santander) and Ze Castro (Deportivo) were both left on the bench as their sides played out a 0-0 draw at El Sardinero, while Tiago Gomes was included in the Osasuna 18 for their trip to Sporting Gijon, but did not get on as his side lost 2-1.

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Others

Greece

Fernando Santos’ PAOK Saloniki remain in 2nd place in the Greek Super League after playing out a 0-0 draw at home against Panathinaikos on Sunday, with Sergio Conceicao playing the full ninety minutes for Santos’ men. Neither Edinho nor Geraldo Alves were involved for AEK Athens in their 1-1 draw with AE Larisa. Lourenco came on for the final fifteen minutes of Panionios’ 2-0 home win over Aris Saloniki.

Elsewhere, former Vitoria Setubal manager Carlos Carvalhal lifted his Aris Tripolis side up into 11th after a goalless draw with Panserraikos, although the Portuguese was unable to call on any of the compatriots in his squad for the match. Daniel Kenedy came on just after the hour for Ergotelis in their 0-0 draw at Iraklis.

Romania

CFR Cluj enjoyed the best possible preparation for their midweek Champions League match with Bordeaux, by beating league leaders Dinamo Bucharest 1-0 on Saturday. Yssouf Kone got the goal for Cluj, who included Ricardo Cadu and Dani in their starting line-up and are now six points off the top after a poor start to the defence of their title.

Jose Peseiro’s Rapid Bucharest secured a much welcome three points with a 4-2 home win over Gaz Medias in the capital. Ricardo Fernandes was among the goals for Peseiro’s men, the defender equalising to draw his team back level at 1-1 after 13 minutes, while Joao Paulo Andrade was also in the Rapid side.

There was disappointment for Steaua Bucharest, who were surprisingly beaten 2-0 at Otelului Galati. Tiago Gomes and Antonio Semedo both played the full ninety minutes for Steaua, who may have had one eye on their Champions League clash with Lyon.

Luis Dias’ Gloria Buzau were 1-0 winners over a CS Otopeni side containing Nuno Diogo, while Farul Constanta were without both Hugo Faria and Chico for their 1-1 draw with Poli Timisoara, for whom Carlos Milhazes was in defence. Meanwhile, Rui Duarte and Paulo Adriano both started as FC Brasov drew 1-1 at Politehnica Iasi, who started with Nuno Viveiros, and Hugo Luz was in defence for Vaslui, who lost 1-0 at home to FC Arges.

Russia

Zenit St Petersburg’s faint hopes of snatching a Champions League place for next year’s competition appear to be all but over after a 2-2 draw with Spartak Nalchik left them nine points adrift of second place with just six matches left to play. Danny played for Zenit, who sit in 5th place and do have a game in hand on the teams above them, but require a quite drastic collapse from CSKA Moscow to have any chance of stealing second spot.

Scotland

Bruno Aguiar celebrated his return to fitness following a long injury nightmare with a superb goal in the Edinburgh derby as Hearts and Hibernian played out a 1-1 draw. Aguiar played the full ninety minutes in midfield for Hearts, and his free-kick three minutes before half time cancelled out Steven Fletcher’s early goal for the hosts. Filipe Morais was not involved for Hibs. Rangers and Pedro Mendes saw their scheduled match with Dundee United postponed as a mark of respect for late United chairman Eddie Thompson, who passed away last week.

Serbia

Champions Partizan Belgrade saw their 100% record in the Serbian league finally come to an end, after conceding a late equaliser to draw 2-2 at home with Javor Inanjica. Partizan were without suspended Portuguese forward Almani Moreira, who was sent off in their previous match against Red Star, but did look to be heading for another three points until Racic scored an 87th minute leveller for Javor.

Switzerland

FC Basel warmed up for their Champions League clash with Barcelona by coasting into the next round of the Swiss Cup with a 4-1 win at lower league FC Bulle. Portuguese forward Carlitos was not involved for the champions, who currently trail FC Zurich on goal difference at the top of the Super League with eleven rounds played. FC Luzern also went through, Nelson Ferreira playing the final twenty-five minutes of a 3-0 victory at FC Grenchen.

Turkey

Galatasaray bounced back from defeat in their last league match by cruising to a 3-0 home victory over Trabzonspor on Sunday, with Fernando Meira in central defence. To complete a good weekend for the Portuguese in Turkey, Neca was in the Ankaraspor side which won 2-1 at Kayserispor to move up into 6th in the Turkcell Super League.

Ukraine

Both Mario Sergio and Ricardo Fernandes were in the Metalurh Donetsk side which drew 1-1 with Dnipro. The result leaves Metalurh in second place in the table after eleven games played, trailing defending champions Dynamo Kiev by two points in the 30-match championship.

Star Performer

Bruno Aguiar (Hearts)

After 15 months out of the game with a recurring ankle injury, former Benfica midfielder Aguiar finally had reason to smile at the weekend following his long-awaited return to fitness. The 27-year-old scored his side’s goal, a superbly-taken free-kick, in the 1-1 Edinburgh derby draw with Hibernian.

Earlier Round-ups